Traditionally used to differentiate coercive Statist forms (authoritarian) of socialism from cooperative anarchist forms (libertarian). Adopted by the right-wing in the early 1900s to describe an extremist capitalist philosophy, who now try claim to have exclusive use of the term and ignore its roots.

While the real libertarians try to destroy all forms of domination, control and power, the other libertarians are plotting how to get it.

Libertarians believe that people should be free to do whatever they want just as long as they do not hurt other people. For instance, if someone is minding their own business while smoking weed in their car or in their backyard, most libertarians will argue that he or she should be left alone. If the individual is truly sovereign, then they should be able to put whatever they want into their own body. For it is the individual who owns their body, not the state. Libertarians, such as the Libertarian Party, believe in "minimum government, maximum freedom"; while libertarians, such as the anarcho-capitalists wish to abolish the state. For this reason, people tend to stereotype all libertarians as anarchists. Libertarianism is a very broad political philosophy. One doesn't need to be a member of the party to be a libertarian, nor do they need to be an anarcho-capitalist. Finally, they do recognize the potential dangers of large corporations. They are pro-free market; not pro-corporation. They're also not made up of "wealthy individuals." This is also a generalization. They could come from a poor background, a middle class background, or a wealthy background. Libertarians believe everything should be voluntary.

The Urban Dictionary T-Shirt

Derived from the word “liberty,” a Libertarian is someone who advocates individual liberties.

Libertarians believe that individuals have the right to make their own choices, as long as it doesn’t harm oneself or other people. Libertarians generally believe in having a small, de-centralized form of government with limited taxation to give the people reign over his or her activities. These types of individuals usually regard issues such as health care, education, etc., as the responsibility of the individual and not of the state. Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are well known Libertarians.

The Libertarian platform is this-
"We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose."
That means that abortion, gay marriage, gun rights, property rights, etc., etc. would not be regulated or prohibited. Robbery, murder, vandalism, arson, etc. would still be punishable by law.

The Urban Dictionary T-Shirt

1. First recorded use in medieval theological debates to mean someone who believed in human free will.

2. First political usage in 19th century france as a euphemism for anarchist when anarchist publications were banned.

3. Used since the mid 19th century onwards to diferentiate their proposed economic systems from those of classic socialists (ie libertarian communism, libertarian socialism etc). Worldwide this remains the most common use today.

4. Used since the mid-late 20th century to describe an extreme proponent of the free market. This use is almost unheard of outside the united states and canada.

It's real strange how these american radical capitalists use the word libertarian, seeing as how in the rest of the world it is usually followed by the word communist